Ritchie's Pregame - St. Louis

Coach Soderburg brings his surprising Billikens (92 RPI, 9-4 A10) into Halton Arena on Saturday to face the equally surprising Niners. After going 1-3 to start the season and scoring only 9 points in half vs Miss. St, Charlotte has gone 16-6 and on a 6 game A10 win streak to hold sole possession of 2^nd place, 3 games behind George Washington and 1 game ahead of Saint Louis. The Billikens were preseason 13^th in the Atlantic 10, predicted to finish ahead of only the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure. Saint Louis has definitely earned its right to battle Charlotte for 2^nd place in the conference after snapping an 18 game Win-Loss-Win-Loss… alternation by winning six of their last seven. A10 Freshman of the year Tommie Liddell (winner of 5 A10 Rookie of the Week Awards) and Senior center Ian Vouyoukas have this team on a late season run that the Niners will hope to stop on their home court.

The Niners are 9-9 vs. the Billikens all time with both teams losing only once on their home courts. In 2005 when Saint Louis traveled to Halton, Mitchell Baldwin was injured in a physical battle but when Charlotte traveled to the Billikens home the Niners picked up their first win ever at the infamous Savvis center in an OT thriller, 83-78 where Withers scored his career high 39 points. The reason for those 39 points: size advantage. If the Niners have one major advantage over the Saint Louis Billikens its size. Besides 6-10 Center Vouyoukas, the Billikens have a serious height disadvantage at every position. Look for the Niners to pound it inside with Coleman, Williams, Nance, and Withers after opening up the lane with the three from Lee and DA.

But most importantly, what’s a Billiken?

From Saint Louis’ Athletic Webpage:

One of the truly unique mascots in college athletics, the Billiken is a symbol of good luck that became a national craze in the early 1900s.

In 1908, Florence Pretz, an art teacher and illustrator in Kansas City, Mo., received a patent for her version of an ancient Asian figure – a chubby character with pixie ears, fat cheeks and an ear-to-ear grin. A year later, the Billiken Company of Chicago adopted the likeness, giving it its eventual name. Initially manufactured as a bank and statuette, the Billiken reached its peak of popularity in 1911, when it was widely recognized as a universal symbol of good fortune.

Legend has it that the Billiken has three kinds of luck – good, better and best. To buy a Billiken gave the buyer luck. To have one given to you is better luck. The best luck came if the Billiken were stolen.

I’d show you a picture but according to the website all pictures of the Billiken are copyrighted and can only be used with permission from the Saint Louis athletic department.